Chapter IV
Disclaimer: I do not own The Gargoyles, The TMNT or any
characters there in. Nor do I own anyone's opinions or takes on these
characters. This is simply my view on certain characters, and any
semblance to other fanfics is completely unintentional.
Note: Forever Alone is the third fic in my gargoyles/TMNT
series which will soon split into a co-authored fic world (run in
fear!). This happens 5/97, after 'The Logic of Dreams' and 'Alone'.
This fic will be going up slowly, as I managed to loose my original
draft of this fic and have to re-write it and still make sure I stay
true to my 'timeline'.
Please also note that I am writing the Wyvern clan and their allies
slightly out of character on purpose, it's vital for the next saga of
this series. Also, I LOVE April and Don, but find them both almost
impossible to write, hence their low level of appearances.
For more info, read the Author's Notes at the end of each chapter
And yes, I'm still trying to figure out the accents of the characters
WITH accents.
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Turtleman says:
Yeah, that's what I would have thought, but you know Leo, the worse
he feels, the more he worries. It's like he's permanently stuck in
'fearless leader' mode.
Bludmgs_Bbysis says:
Well, maybe he is stuck in 'fearless leader' mode. I mean you told
me yourself how he keeps you and your brothers safe, and how he always
has 'the plans'. That sounds like a 24 hour job to me.
Turtleman says:
Huh. I never thought of that. Good point, Amber. Any ideas how to
distract a 18 year old workaholic?
Bludmgs_Bbysis says:
None that a guy could use on his brother, Donny. ~.^
Turtleman says:
...You are evil. Did you know that?
Bludmgs_Bbysis says:
I am not evil... I am UNIQUE! ...On a side note, I thought you were
on 'brother' watch, why are you on the net?
Turtleman says:
Leo's sleeping right now, so I figured I could chat for a while till
he woke up.
"Hey Donny. My shift n... Hey, whatcha doin'? Ooooooo! Talking to Ammmmmmberrrrr again?"
See turtle.
See turtle jump out of shell in shock.
See turtle's brother.
See turtle's brother run for his life in fear.
Run, turtle's brother! Run!
"Mikey! Come back here! I told you to never sneak up on me while I'm working!!"
"Talking to your girlfriend does not count as working, Donny!"
"Amber is not my girlfriend she's... she's... Well, I mean, that is..."
"Awwww, you're so cute when you blush, bro! Ow! OW! OwOwOwOwOwOwOw!"
"Hah! Take that shell for brains!!"
"...Ummm, dude, did you tell Amber that you were signing off before you started chasing me?"
"...Ah man, she's gonna kill me!!"
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"What the hell is up with you, Brooklyn?" one of the Quarrymen wondered under his breath as he slowly crept through the woods. "I've never seen you act this aggressive." The man froze and stared as he walked into a clearing, a huge cliff rearing up before him, and bound and gagged before him were four of his fellow Quarrymen in various states of awareness... or lack there of. Hearing the sound of a gargoyle growl up ahead, he quickly got back into the cover of the trees, carefully picking his way along through the underbrush, trying to make as little noise as possible, tallying up the Quarrymen he'd arrived with as he went. "And how the hell did you manage to take out 18 men, for that matter." He sighed angrily. '-Work under cover,- she said. –You'll be our spy on the inside,- she said. Yeah right. Working with the Illuminati is easier then this. Next time SHE gets to play 'Cop Gone Bad'.'
Reaching the edge of the tree cover, the Quarryman dropped down and scanned the area, blinking in shock as he saw Castaway standing out in the open, completely oblivious to the shadow that was slowly working it's way down the cliff towards him. 'Great. Juuuuuuuuust great.' He quickly checked his dart gun, even as a corner of his mind rebelled against what he was about to do.
Castaway slowly in place, waiting... waiting... he knew that the beast was here, and he knew that its violent nature would win out. Just looking at how viciously it had reacted to the Quarrymen's attempt to capture it gently confirmed everything he'd come to realize about the demons.
Brooklyn waited in the shadowed recess on the cliff face until the human was facing away from him, then he leapt out, tackling the human, ignoring the sudden sharp pain in his shoulder as he did so. "What have I ever done to you?" he demanded, eyes flaring in rage and soul deep agony. "Nothing! I've done nothing, but here I am, trapped in a life of solitude, the only time I feel alive is when I protect the people of this city... and all I get from that is screams of fear. Why hunt me?! I save the city, then I'm trapped in the shadows like some demon never to been seen or named! Why add to that?! We're already monsters, outlaws and murders to them, thanks to what people like you have done!"
John struggled and managed to throw the gargoyle off. Before the beast could recover, the Quarryman threw himself forward and tackled him, smiling as he saw a blur of dark blue running up and helping pin him down. It seemed that at least ONE of his Quarrymen had managed to escape the demon's attack.
Between the two of them, the Quarrymen managed to hold Brooklyn still until with a groan that no human could mimic, the beast slowly sagged, then collapsed to the ground as the drug in the dart that had struck his shoulder finally kicked in. The two humans kept their grip, fearing it may be a ruse until they felt the gargoyle go rag-doll limp beneath them. Releasing Brooklyn, they stood up, staring down at him.
"Well my friend," John commented as he slammed his foot into the gargoyle's chest, smiling slightly when it failed to illicit a response. A second kick to the injured shoulder rolled the beast over to his back. "It seems that we Quarrymen have bagged our first beast."
The thud of a body hitting the ground made Castaway spin around, only to find himself facing an unconscious Quarryman, and nothing else. Before he could figure out what had happened, something heavy and unyielding slammed into the back of his head, and John Castaway, the Hunter, knew no more.
The gun that she'd used to pistol-whip the two humans was casually tossed to the side as she dropped down to one knee beside Brooklyn and reached over, gently prying open one eyelid of the white-haired gargoyle, frowning when he failed to react at all, his pupils mere pinpricks. "It seems that my past haunts us all more then I thought, Brooklyn," she offered softly as she smoothed the hair away from his face with a gentle hand, eyes sad. Stooping slightly, she gently hefted the limp form up into her arms, almost loosing her balance at the unexpected weight before she caught herself then headed off at a jog, disappearing into the tress several minutes before the police arrived to find the last two members of the twenty costumed Quarrymen stretched out on the ground, still quite unconscious.
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"Hey, Matt," Elisa offered as she quietly stole into the room, a sympathetic smile on her face as she sat down next to his bed. "How're you holding up?"
"I refuse to answer unless you stop yelling," the red haired detective offered, managing a smile.
Elisa smiled again and gently patted her partner's shoulder, dropping her voice from normal to something closer to a whisper. "Doctor's say that it's a minor concussion and you should be up and about soon. ...How'd the operation go?"
"Better then expected. John Castaway seemed thrilled to have a cop working for him, and I managed to get myself invited along on their first 'gargoyle hunt'. I think the fact that I was the only person besides him conscious at the end of that fiasco helped cement our 'friendship'. The only problem is that whoever clubbed me and him upside the head must have helped Brooklyn escape, because there is NO way he could have gotten out under his own power."
Elisa frowned in worry. "Any idea who your attacker might have been?"
""No. Actually I was hoping it might have been some concerned citizens that you know." Matt sighed. "And what was Brooklyn doing patrolling Central Park alone?"
"I don't know. I asked Goliath and he said that Brooklyn's been acting odd lately, so I guess he just wanted some time alone for some reason."
"Odd does not begin to describe it, Elisa," Matt said, voice deadly serious.
Elisa paused and blinked, a worried look creeping onto her face. "What do you mean, Matt?"
"What I mean is, Brooklyn was REALLY aggressive, and you should have heard what he said while he was fighting Castaway."
Elisa nodded. "I checked up on the other Quarrymen we found, several of them have broken ribs, one or two have broken noses, one has a cracked skull, and the one with the broken foot got hit by the dart Brooklyn dodged. ...And one of the men we found has a bad chest injury from where a laser hit him at nearly point blank range, the doctors aren't sure if he'll make it."
Matt sighed. "Damn. That's not going to help their P.R. is it?"
"No... It's not."
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Brooklyn groaned and rolled over to the side, falling off the bed with a thud and roar of pain as he landed heavily on his injured shoulder and wing. After a few moments of white-hot agony, he carefully opened his eyes and found himself staring up at a cathedral type ceiling. He stared at it blankly as his dazed mind strove to connect his disjointed thoughts. Close to two minutes later, his head cleared enough for him to realize that he wasn't in the park anymore. Sitting up slowly, he sagged forward onto his knees, groaning as he held his pounding head. A minute or so later, the headache faded and he slowly looked up and took in his surroundings.
He was in a shadow filled room with huge bay windows that opened up to a view of the city and the cool night breeze, obviously more then 20 stories up in the air. Staggering to his feet, Brooklyn glanced at his shoulder and froze, too surprised to even react as his still weak muscles gave out, letting himself fall back to his knees in a most ungainly manner.
A brown-red taloned hand reached over and touched the bandaged shoulder, his nose picking up the faint scent of the anti-infectant used on both it and the wing injury. No longer was the shoulder awkwardly bound with a ripped up tablecloth, now it was tightly and professionally bound with fresh, clean gauze. "Wha... What? ...Who?"
"Me," a voice said softly, and one of the shadows separated itself from the rest.
Brooklyn surged to his feet and staggered back a few paces, stopping as he hit the window sill with the back of his legs, his jaw dropping as he took in the azure skin, crimson hair and wings cowled around her form just so...
"Demona?"
"Yes."
Brooklyn's eyes blazed blue-white and he tried to lunge towards his enemy, groaning as his body failed to follow his commands and left him sprawling forward onto the floor of the room, wings and limbs tangled and still numb. He jerked as Demona suddenly appeared next to him and gently helped him to his feet. "What... did you do to me?" he demanded as his legs gave out beneath him again. "What did you do?!"
"I saved you. Saved you from those blue-clad humans that attacked and drugged you."
'Drugged?' Brooklyn wondered in his thoughts. 'That would explain everything.' Everything from why his body refused to follow his orders to why it was so hard to keep his thoughts straight... Shaking his head to try and clear it, Brooklyn glared up at Demona, who still knelt beside him. He was about to lunge towards her again when he saw her eyes and froze, drug fogged mind tripping up as he saw something frighteningly familiar there.
Fear, pain, vulnerability and loneliness. A loneliness so deep that the black hole within him responded and suddenly clawed at him, trying to yank him down. The gargoyle backed up half a pace, shaking his head slightly, trying to deny something he wasn't even sure of while he tried and failed to break eye contact with Demona.
The female gargoyle reached out with one hand, stopping just short of touching the younger gargoyle's shoulder. She was still for a moment, then she dropped her gaze, backing up a pace. "I'm not going to hurt you, Brooklyn," she whispered softly. "I... left you the note. I waited until Xanatos took his wife and son out for something or other, then I used a virus I'd put into his computer system more then a year ago, causing the camera's and other security devices to loop their data so nothing detected me while I glided up to the castle and put the note on your usual perch, hiding it with some loose stones and shed skin."
"No... That's not... You couldn't have unless..." Brooklyn suddenly bared his fangs. "You set me up, those men were working for you! You-"
"-Had nothing to do with that! Those humans are being led by one of the Hunters!"
Brooklyn jerked as though he'd been shot, eyes widening as his mind finally found the face and name to connect with the voice he'd heard used that night. And as he was forced to admit that there was no way the last of the Hunter's would ever work for Demona. He spun around and dove towards the window, the only thought in his mind getting away from here. Away from Demona and the things she said that still made so much sense... He wouldn't let her fool him again!
"Brooklyn! No! You can't glide like this!" Demona leapt after the staggering gargoyle and grabbed him, pinning his arms and binding him fast with her wings, doing her best not to harm him further as the still drug-dazed gargoyle tried to struggle free. "Brooklyn, please! I sent you the note because I knew you would understand how being alone kills you one day at a time. I sent you the letter because... even though you hate me. Even though I deserve it, you were the only one I thought may understand."
Brooklyn again tensed, stopping his struggle to win free of Demona. He stared at her, breath coming in uneven gasps. "You... can't know..."
"Can't I?" the blue skinned gargoyle asked. "I have been alone for a thousand years and... I'm tired. I'm tired of hating humanity, tired of hating and being hated by you and your clan. I want... I need to talk to you, I need to tell you the things that I've done, and the things I've seen. That's all. If you listen, if I take this chance... maybe... I won't be alone..."
Brooklyn stopped trying to break free of Demona's grip and the female gargoyle released him and carefully backed away. The Manhattan Clan second-in-command stared at Demona, trying to figure out why he thought she was telling the truth.
"Please, Brooklyn."
Brooklyn continued to stare at Demona, and he felt himself nodding, heard himself answering before he could even think over the words or answer. "I'll stay and hear you out."
"You will?" Demona asked, sounding surprised, as if she hadn't thought this would work.
Brooklyn bit his tongue, but then glanced down to the floor as he remembered the note, and the words upon it, and he found himself nodding again. "I give you my word."
Demona smiled slowly. Not her usual smirk that chilled the heart, but a soft smile that reminded Brooklyn of how she had once been, before the fall of Wyvern, before she had hid her guilt behind her hate.
"Thank you."
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The sun rose that day as it always did, shining out across a city that showed no changes on it's surface, locking one gargoyle both stone and his promise, even as it's light bathed a form that had once been gargoyle and now revealed itself to be human and dancing like the light that touched it, faintly, locked in a vault far from the city that never slept, music began to play, faintly at first, small and far to low to be heard.
But that's how these things always start.
Very small.
For while exiles are forever alone, even they can find someone to reach out to... if they dare to take the chance.
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Author's Notes:
Okay, I hope I haven't confused anyone TOO badly. This stuff
will actually be mentioned in the stories as it goes on, but I'm
keeping this here so people can get a quick summery of the history in
'my' realm. The year is currently 1997. The Goliath Chronicles did NOT
occur here. The gargoyles portion of this fic-series goes off on a
parallel course after Hunter's Moon. The Quarrymen do
exist, as does the P. I.T. crew, however, most of the human
populace think the gargoyles were just an elaborate hoax, someone
creating robots again in the shape of monsters. The remainder of the
public is torn between hating or loving the gargoyles... and just
wanting them to go away. Jason Canmore has joined the CSI. He's still
in a wheelchair, but he's enjoying the desk job (more or less) he has
in the laboratory and is slowly proving himself to be a trustworthy.
Robyn Canmore has been given parole and is job hunting and Jon is still
MIA (actually, he's in charge of the Quarry men under the assumed name
John Castaway).
For those of you that came in late; Yes, Demona is actually telling the
truth, for more info on why she's doing this, please read The
Logic of Dreams. Also, yes, the clan is acting a bit odd towards
Brooklyn, but I did that on purpose;). Pay close attention to how the
clan, Fox, David, Owen, Elisa and the Mutates treat Brook... again,
it's going to be vital in the Exile saga...
I'm using the new TMNT TV series for this crossover (primarily because
it's following the comics, but I like the gadgets and tone of it a bit
better then the comics... Never thought I'd say that) Since the show
isn't over yet, I'm using what has occurred so far in the series and
mixing it up with the comic book history, first and second movie and my
own imagination. The new series seems to be taking place in 1995 (cell
phones, DVDs, etc) The Purple Dragons are a bit more like the gang we
see in the first NT movie. There's a silent crime wave going on as the
Purple Dragons recruit teenagers and teach them the basics of breaking
and entering, pick-pocketing, etc. The better fighters in the Purple
Dragons are being taken in to be taught ninjitsu. Tatsu (yes, the
grunting guy from the movie;) is in charge of training the foot, while
Hun is in charge of their deployment. The Purple Dragons aren't aware
of who they're working for, so even if the police break them up,
there's no way of connecting the crimes to Oroko Saki, the respected
business man.
No, the gargs and turtles aren't really aware of each other. In the
comics and new series, most of the turtles actions are happening very
quickly topside, inside buildings, or underground, while the
'Gargoyles' action occurs in hard to reach places, on top of secluded
buildings, or in midair. The odds of the gargoyles or police realizing
that there is a 'Foot' clan are somewhere between very low and flat out
impossible.
In the year since Hunter's Moon and Logic of Dreams/Alone,
Demona has gone seemingly MIA and has done nothing illegal or
genocidish, so though Elisa, Matt and the others are watching
Nightstone Inc, there's nothing for them to find. Leo and Raph have
been getting a bit more aggressive towards each other, but it has yet
to reach a head. Goliath is following the route he seemed to be taking
in the Goliath Chronicles and is pushing for the clan to take on more
human customs and let the public know about their presence. Meanwhile,
also following his GC 'path' Brooklyn seems to be resisting the
changes, and openly disagreeing with Goliath about revealing their
presence. Or at least, that's my take on the circumstances;)
And yes, Splinter STILL kicks ass;)